PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY--BE WEIRD

I used to do lots of workshops on Productivity. There was always some book to read and method to follow. So I would teach it. Participants loved it and for some, it was helpful. It helped people in roles where quantity equalled being productive and where there was not overwhelming variety.

So--what I taught was not good for top executives. So I decided to learn rather than teach and I watched and interviewed the CEO's I worked for and with.

Lessons For Personal Productivity for C-level Execs:

--Know yourself and tailor your approach to you own idiosyncrasies as a person

--Give up thinking about quantity. Go only for quality. Be ruthless about what is important to move the needle on the most important issue of the day and of the strategy for your business. Move this needle every day.

--Write down what you won't, can't, do if you want to do the above--move the right needle. Quit all guilt.

--You will never get IT done. Inhale this truth. Then keep going.

--Let the right things fall totally off your plate. Get used to feeling lousy about that

--Know your own rhythm for being productive. (My work in never as strong if I do it early. I need time pressure to do my best.) 

--Build in lying fallow in some way. You and your company need breathing space to produce in the long run and to create. Constant pressure with no in between time creates a kind of hopeless fatigue and kills the higher brain functions   
like judgment and intuition  (which you are paid well to use well).

--Sleep enough to be sure you are even tempered, engaged and not staggering through the day. Do not show off your stamina. Show off your health.

--Take small breaks. I used to shut my door between meetings and play a quick game of solitaire or Candy Crush or Farm Heroes. Took five minutes and switched of my internal hub-bug for a while.

Productivity sounds so fierce and industrial. Constantly conscious sounds rather New Age. So think 'Awareness Accounting'.

--What am I doing right now?
--Does it matter to my larger picture? Can I make peace with it if I have to do it and do it right? 
--What one thing can I do to feel the relief of doing the right thing?
--How can I put my priorities into the larger perspective?
--How do I get off my own back for not getting IT done.
--How do I become the calm in the middle of my company's chaos?

I THINK THIS IS A REALLY GOOD IDEA

Don't start by telling me why it can't be done.
If you run the company, it can be.

So here is what I'm thinking about:
--What if you as the CEO or top leader quit spreading yourself so thin by having your calendar filled with visits to various parts of your company equally distributed?

--What if you went and lived with a banner, a function, a country for a 
substantial amount of time. You can have your regular calendar clogging rote meetings long distance. (They matter less than you think unless you make them worthwhile for you.)

--What if you picked a function that was under performing or doing something very innovative and set up an office smack dab in the middle of their work setting  and worked from it for say 3-6 months.  People could drop in.You could wander. And of course you can shut your darn door and do what you have to do, but the informal contact and information would bring radical learning to extrapolate. 

--What if you touched the grit of your business enough to lead with a sure touch and strategy

--What if you became one of your customers long enough or often enough to
speak for them from an up close experience?

How on earth do you run your company without grit?
How do you fight the forces to become only conceptual?
How do you know you are making the right changes without deep knowledge?
How do you know enough to trust your gut and your intuition?

Going deeper for a longer time would give you the right stuff to work with rather than short shallow snippets that don't ground you fully for tough decisions.

HOT TOPICS AT WORK

I have a position about hot topics at work. There are many and right now in The United States it is politics. Once upon a time, I wasn't so clear and it caused problems. I wasn't clear for myself and I wasn't overt because of that. I lost a close relationship with a high potential leader by squelching his bold social political comments during a leadership retreat. In reality, I agreed with his position but it was a tributary discussion that was killing the main purpose of the session. (It was meant to be an informal after dinner discussion and wine was in the room, which didn't help.) 

So here is my stance on hot topics:
--People in the workplace can talk about hot topics outside of work topics informally while at work--cafeteria, hallway, bathrooms (oh yes).
--At a formal (even if casual) meeting the focus trumps any hot topic remarks. Leaders need to know how to gracefully kill the conversation. Not easy but necessary.
--The hot topics need to be handled respectfully all the time. Period.
--I don't support pressure on any employee to vote in a particular way. If there is a policy/governmental issue it can be spelled out as to why it supports the business. Period. 
--Humor is only good if it is good natured and not personal. 
--Collaboration is essential in the workplace so anything that puts people truly at odds with one another at work is not OK. Monitor this, soothe this, set an example.

I don't envy the task in this vituperative election year but I do think it is the CEO and top team's accountability to keep a civil workplace. Period.

CLARITY WITHOUT CRISIS

I'm thinking about the recent hurricane and other big emergencies that companies have to face. I worked with a large food retailer in The United States
that faced plenty of natural crises as will as business disruptions.

And these disasters brought out high level organizational  performance in each situation. Why? And why does it take near disaster or worse to get extraordinary 
execution and engagement?  Here are a few thoughts:

—The priority is clear. All extraneous activity is eliminated.

—Decisions have to be made and so they are.

—People at all levels have to make decisions without regard to position or fear of failure. The only failure is no decision.

—Top leaders come in close. Their presence is felt and heard.

—Everyone knows that what they are doing is very important.

—There is an altruistic impulse to help one another. Generosity prevails,

—There is a very clear call to action.

So the challenge is how to get this kind of clarity without the crisis!

Have you seen the same dynamic? 
Let me know.
I'm curious.
Was my experience unique?

RESULTS REVIEW/PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT

At last companies are looking at killing the annual review along with the bell curve that assumes mediocrity rules and so-called high potentials get spoiled in terms of composition, development and career possibility and equally hard working people learn resentment and disengagement.

What is beginning to work differently?
—Unhook compensation from individual effort/performance
—Tie all compensation to company results. All
—Create a learning culture in which there is constant tweaking of performance
through mechanisms (like internal company apps) for on the spot information about what worked and what didn't in terms of effort. 
—Anyone can ask anyone at any time for an assessment for results and for increased capability
—Co-coaching, peer coaching, is common and everyone is trained and become skilled in learning through action that moves the needle
—Meaning and purpose and mastery and understanding the large picture and being part of it matter more than compensation differential
—People leave when the high feedback high learning environment tells them they are not doing their work well and coaching supports the choice. 
—Frequent, easy to do, both oral and written feedback done throughout the organization kills legal worries. Feedback comes from all directions and hinders bias.

Sounds naive? Tell it to a Millennial.